First real night of the season

After a few days of some Coaches v. Cancer opening rounds where not much happened outside of
-Michigan running away in their region
-Charlie Coles getting his 300th career win for Miami Oh on a 4 pt play then the next night going the distance vs. UCLA losing only by 5
-Southern Illinois adding a big non conference win to their resume over UMASS
-Nolan Smith overtaking Greg Paulus for the starting job at Duke then having jobber games against the Blue Hose and Georgia Southern to advance to NY

Tonight we begin non tournament non conference games

Starting with the upset pick
American over #8 Oklahoma

March 15th this year I wrote in the team capsule for American

"The Verdict: Wait ‘til next year. This team will be back again next year, with 9 juniors this trip will be very valuable to give them confidence but don’t expect them to come in and upset anyone. Next year, that’s another story but right now in the 2009 NCAA tournament I’m picking American to the sweet 16 hop on the bandwagon now while there is plenty of room."

Despite future lottery pick Blake Griffen leading this hyped Oklahoma team into the season look for American to shock the Sooners. This is where American will start their sweet sixteen run led by great backcourt play from Garrison Carr and Derrick Mercer two of the most electrifying guards in the country. They return 3 starters and 9 players from a team that almost shocked Tennessee last year in the tourney. Thus look for the upset here. And hop on with me cause come March there won't be much room.

Other Games of note:

Stanford at Yale in a battle for the best school in the country not named Harvard. Look for a easy Stanford win but still a battle of brains (especially without airheads Brook and Robin there).

Look for Maryland to beat Bucknell in the beginning of the post Flannery days for the Bison.

Look for Illinois Chicago to beat Bradley especially after Bradley lost to a D3 team in an exhibition game.

Nova over Will Brown's Albany making coach Brown realize even more how much he misses Jamar Wilson days.

Clemson over Hofstra making coach Pecora await Chaz Williams even more.

Then big east giants Pitt and Uconn should have easy wins